Global hospitality company, Hilton Worldwide, has launched a carbon offset programme for events and meetings held at select properties across Southeast Asia.

At no additional cost to customers, Hilton Worldwide will measure carbon generated by all events at 11 of its properties in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, and purchase carbon credits to offset their environmental impact, a statement from the company said.

The carbon credits will be used to fund renewable energy projects in Borneo and Cambodia.

“Sustainability is a priority to Hilton Worldwide and a central part of how we do business. For us, it is not just about saying we are committed to sustainability, it is about taking action,” said William Costley, vice president, operations - Southeast Asia, Hilton Worldwide.

“This programme gives organisations and individuals a sustainable choice for their conferences, meetings or social events. By offsetting carbon emissions at no additional cost to our customers, together we are able to give back to the environment and benefit important renewable energy projects in the region.”

Hilton Worldwide is the first and only major multi-brand hospitality company to make sustainability measurement and corrective action a brand standard at each of its more than 3,900 hotels globally.

The programme applies to events held from October 1. It covers all events such as meetings, conferences, weddings and other social occasions held in the participating hotels’ function rooms, the statement said.

Hilton Worldwide will use its LightStay Meeting Impact Calculator to track and measure carbon emissions from each event held. The calculator takes into account factors such as the event room water and electricity usage, food consumed, and guest rooms booked.

LightStay is Hilton Worldwide’s proprietary system for analysing, reporting and improving sustainability performance at each of its properties around the world. It offers tools and resources for hotels to improve performance and share best practices, it said.

Reporting through LightStay, Hilton Worldwide has achieved its five-year goal to reduce total waste output by 20 per cent; and is on track to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 20 per cent, and water consumption by 10 per cent, by 2013.

Working with Climate Friendly, a carbon offset solutions provider, Hilton Worldwide has identified two initial beneficiaries of the carbon offset program in Southeast Asia. They are the Borneo Rainforest Rehabilitation Project and Cambodia Cookstove Project.

“Increasingly, organisations are becoming more concerned about the impact of their business and activities on the environment,” said Costley. “Hilton Worldwide’s carbon offset programme in Southeast Asia enables companies to measure the environmental impact of their events and offset this impact in a meaningful way.” – TradeArabia News Service